Wire drawing machine



Feb. 10, 1942.

E. J. P. FISHER WIRE DRAWING MACHINE Filed July 10, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VENTOR. EDNA ED JP PIS/95E TTORNEYS Feb. 10, 1942. E. J. P. FISHER WIRE DRAWING MACHINE Filed July 10, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 AWN 1N VEN TOR. ED WA PD .7 7? 775195? ATTORNEYS Feb. 10, 1942; E. J. P. FISHER WIRE DRAWING MACHINE Filed July 10, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I INVENTOR. 50 WA )PD I7? P/SHE]? V ATT RNEX? @UUW l .l L I .H W V i \v wire.

Patented Feb. 10,1942

UNI-TED"- WIRE DRAWING MACHINE Edward J. P. Fisher, North Jackson, Ohio, as-

signor to The Aetna-Standirrd Engineering. Company, Youngstown, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application July 10, 1940, Serial No. 344,730

b 9 Claims. This invention relates to wire drawing machines and more particularly to continuous wire of the Connor patent the drums are arranged to permit an accumulation of wire thereon to'allow steady operation of the machine for some time,

even though the speeds of the various drums are not in exact proportion to the elongation of the It has been proposed, as disclosed in the application of Jerome R. George and Kenneth B. Lewis, Serial'No. 281,666, filed June 28, 1939, to provide individual electric motor drives for the various blocks or drums in machines of the Connor type whereby the operator of the machine can control the speeds of the individual drums so that the machine can be regulated to maintain substantially constant accumulations of wire on the various drums with the result that the machines can be operated continuously for indefinitely long periods of time without the necessity of running off the wire on' the blocks and rethreading the machine at frequent intervals, as is required by the original Connor type of machine.

It is a general object of the present invention to provide a continuous wire drawing machine constituting a further improvement on machinesv of the type illustrated for example in the Connor patent and in which automatic means are pro-' vided for controlling the speed of the various drums of the machine so that the machine will be operated in such fashion that substantially equal weights of wire will be drawn through the dies associated with each block or machine for any given period er time. By this arrangement the accumulations of the wire on the blocks'of cally controlling the speed of blocks of wire drawing machines. A further object is to provide an automatic control mechanism in which the tendency to hunt is minimized and in which the arrangement is such that no undue strainswill be placed upon the wire. Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from the following. description of the preferred form thereof, reference being made to the accompanying drawings. sential characteristics are set forth in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 illustrates a top plan view of a wire drawing machine embodying my invention and including three dies and associated blocks. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the machine shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail taken along the line of 3--3 in Fig. 1 showing the mechanism for automatically controlling the speed of one of the motors and Fig. 4 is a detail of th mechanism shown in Fig.

i 3, as indicated by the line 4-4 of Fig. '3.

.The machine illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 may .be of the general type described and claimed in and the units embodying blocks or drums l8, I9

and 20, respectively. The blocks or drums preferably are driven by independent variable speed motors 22, i3 and 24 through any convenient gearing or power transmitting mechanism such as that illustrated in the aforesaid Dahlstrom application. Inasmuch as this mechanism and the mode of supporting the blocks on the frames of the units form, per se, no part of the present invention, no further description of these parts of the apparatus will be given in the present specification.

The units are arranged in line as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the 'wire W being drawn through the die box l4 and its associated die Ma onto the drum or block l8 where it iswrapped tightly around the portion 26. As more wire is drawn on to the block, the coils are moved upwardly, surrounding the reduced portion 21. In threading the machine, a considerable number of turns tionabout an axis aligned with the axis of the block [8 in a manner to be described in detail below. The wire is then carried upwardly and guided over the pulley 32 disposed above the cen- The ester of the drum l8, thence downwardly and around the pulley or sheave 33 to the die box l5 where it is drawn through another die on to the drum or block 19 of substantially identical construction with the block [8.

The wire is led away from the block 19 in the same manner as from the block 18, that is, it is carried over the pulley or sheave 34 carried 'by the arm 35 over pulleys 35 and 31 to the die box I8 and its associated die. The wire is drawn through the die box IE and die |6a on to the finishing drum or block 20 which'is of slightly different construction, in that it is provided with axially extending bars 38 for retaining a coil of wire of considerable size on the drum, the bars and coil being protected by a wire guard 39. The finishing unit is also preferably provided with an upwardly extending arm or bracket 40 adapted to support a hoist for removing the coil 9f wire from the finishing block.

In general, the thre units may be of substantially identical construction so far as the v concerned. The units are provided with rheostats 4|, 42 and 43 for controlling the speeds of the motors 22, 23 and 24 respectively. Different gear ratios may be employed within th units as the drum of each succeeding unit must be operated at a higher rate of speed than th speed of the preceding unit due to the reduction and corresponding elongation of the wire as it passes through each succeeding die. The die box on the first unit I is arranged slightly differently than the die box on the remaining units and the finishing unit employs a block or drum of somewhat different character and the guide pulleys are eliminated from the finishing block. Generally speaking, however, the units are of preferably substantially identical construction and as those skilled in the art will understand, it is not necessary to employ precisely three blocks or units, but the invention is useful in conjunction with a machine embodying only two blocks, as well as with a machine embodying more than three has been drawn through the dies Ma and l5aare such that the same weight of wire is drawn through both dies per unit of time, then the wire will be drawn on to the block l8 at precisely the same speed at which it leaves the block I 8 over the sheave 28. Thus the same number of turns of wire will remain on the block l8, and the bracket 29 and the pulley 28 will remain stationary with respect to the central axis of the block.

If wir is being withdrawn from the block faster. than it is being supplied thereto, then the number of turns of. wire on the block will be reduced and the bracket 29 and pulley 28 will rotate around the central axis of the block in a direction opposite to the rotation of the block, that is, in the drawings the block 48 is driven in a counter-clockwise direction and under these circumstances the guide pulley 28 will swing around in a clockwise direction. On the other hand if the wire is being removed from th block at a slower rate than it is being drawn on to the block and accordingly, wire is being accumulated on the block. then the guide pulley 28 and bracket 29 will swing around the central axis of the block in the same direction as the direction of rotation of the block but at a slower speed.

I employ this characteristic motion of the guide over which the wire is withdrawn from the blocks to actuate the automatic control mechanism for the speed of the motors driving the various blocks in a wire drawing machine made according to my invention. That is, through a mechanism to be described in detail below, the rheostats 4| and 42 which control the motors 22 and 23 respectively, are automatically adjusted in response to movement of the pulleys 28 and 34, associated with the blocks l8 and I9 respectively, to adjust the speeds of the motors so that under ordinary operating conditions substantially the same number of turns of wire will remain on the blocks I8 and 19 at all times, the motor driving a preceding block being automatically adjusted with respect to the rate at which the wire is withdrawn to a succeeding block to insure that the wire is drawn on to and removed from the blocks at sub stantially the same speed.

In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the speed of the finishing block may be manually adjusted to a given value. The speed of the motor 23 will be automatically adjusted so that the block I9 will function to draw wire out of the die IE1: at substantially the same speed that the wire is removed from that block to supply wire through the die lSa to the finishing block 20. Similarly, the speed of the motor 22 will be automatically adjusted so-that the block 18 will be driven at such a speed, depending upon th reduction effected by the die l5a, that the wire will bedrawn out of the die 14a and on to the block l8 at substantially the same speed that it is removed from that block to supply wire to the die l5a as demand-ed by the operation of the block 19.

A preferred form of automatic mechanism for so adjusting the speeds of the motors and blocks is illustrated particularly in Figs, 3 and 4 of the drawings. The mechanism associated with unit ID will be described, it being understood that the control mechanism is preferably identical for units 10 and I I, or, in a machine embodying more than three blocks, for all blocks except the finishing block.

As shown in the drawings, the pulley 28 is carried by a bracket 29 which in turn is formed integrally with the Web or flanged portion 45 of a gear 46 which is supported on a separately formed hub member 41 mounted upon bearings 48 suitably supported above the block l8 and coaxially therewith. The gear is secured to the hub 41 by a wedging ring 49, held in position by thumb screws 49a mounted in projecting portions 491) of the cap 490, which in turn is secured to the hub of the member 47 by any convenient means such as capscrews (not shown). Thus the gear can be readily removed from the hub 41 in order to facilitate rapid removal of wire from the block. To properly tension the wire as it is being withdrawn from the block over the pulley 28 and to hold the pulley in engagement with the wire as it is being withdrawn from the block, I preferably provide a friction mechanism which tends to rotate the gear with the block. To this end, the block is provided with an up-standing flange or drum 50 which is engaged by a band 5| of friction material. The band 5| is secured at make a number of revolutions.

- its ends to pins 52 which in turn are provided with rods 53 extending through openings 54 formed in depending lugs 55 of the hub 41. The

tension exerted on the band may be controlled by adjusting the nuts 58, thus varying the amount place between the drum-69 of the sprocket 64 and the friction band 10. In the position shown in the drawing in Fig. 4, the arm 82 is in engagementwith the stop at the position for giving the highest speed of the motor 22. The shaft cam be rotated for nearly 360 degrees, in which eventthe arm 82 will engage the other side of the stop Bland the rheostat will be in the position forgiving the lowest speed of the motor 22.

-As stated above the automatic control mechanismsfor.units I0 and 'II and their associated erned by the adjustment of the nuts 56. Also,

the friction means allows movement of gear and guide pulley in. either direction when'the .block is stationary, thus facilitating handling of the wire, and rewinding of the wire on the block when threading after pointing.

The tension of the wire, for any given adjust ment of the nut 56 will be substantially constant and thus any differences in the relative speeds with which the wire is being-drawn on to and removed from the block will be. promptly reflected by' rotation of the gear 46, the gear remaining stationary so long as the speeds of the wire leav-- The rotation of the gear is utilized to controlthe rheostat M to decrease the speed of the motor 22'when the gear rotates in a counter-clock- J blocks-"Ill and [9 are preferably substantially identical. Obviously, automatic control mechanism is not required for the finishing block, a

manual control such as that illustrated in the drawings preferably being, employed. This may comprise a control knob 85 secured to a shaft 86 wise direction and to increase the speed of the a on the extension 66 of the rheostat shaft 6'1,

being carried by bearings 68 so that the sprocket is freely rotatable with respect to the shaft of the rheostat. The sprocket, however, is provided with a-drum or flange 69 which is engaged bya friction band 10, the ends of the band being carried by pins H secured to rods 12 which ex'- tend through openings in a bracket 13 carried by the arm I4. The construction of this friction brake mechanism is substantially identical with that heretofore described with respect to the drive of the gear 46, the tension on the brake band being controlled by the nuts 15 and the springs 16. This mechanism provides a frictional connectlon between the sprocket 64 and the arm 14, which is in turn welded to a sleeve 11 keyed to the shaft 66. Thus, rotation of the sprocket 64 will frictionally drive the arm I4, and through the sleeve 11, rotate the shaft 61 whichoperates the rheostat 4|.

Under some circumstances, particularly those existing when the machine is being started up, the gear 46 and correspondingly the gear 64 may To prevent such motion being transmitted to the rheostat and thus damaging the rheostat, a stop 80 is provided. The stop is mounted on the plate 8| and engaged by the arm 82, which is also keyed to the shaft 66 and permits the rheostat shaft to be rotated for only a single revolution. Whenever the arm 82 is urged against the stop, slippage will take extending to the rear of the unit where it is provided with a sprocket 81 which in. turn is connected by chain 88 to sprocket 89 mounted on the shaft 90 of the'rheostat 43 so that the rheostat may be conveniently controlled by'the knob 85. To give the operator an indication of the position of the rheostat and of the speed of operation of the motor, the rheostat shaft 90 is extended throughthe plate 9| and is provided with a hand92 which, in conjunction with the scale 93 carried by the plate 9|, functions to show the operator the position of the rheostat.

Each of the units'is provided with manual means such as conventional push-button-switches (not shown) for starting and stopping the respective motors and preferably the switches are arranged to operate the motors either at a slow speed for threading or atnormal speed, in which latter case the speed of the motors is controlled by the respective rheostats associated therewith. These controls may be of any well-known type. In addition to the push-button control the units are preferably provided with bars 94, 95 and 96 respectively which are connected with switch mechanisms of any convenient type so that a push on any one of the bars will result in the stopping of the entire machine.

In operation the machine is threaded in the usual manner,'that is, the wire or rod to be drawn, with a suitable point formed therein, is first inserted through the die l4a, then by means of the usual tongs, is drawn around the drum l8 until the frictional engagement between the drum and the wire is sufiicient to pull the wire through the die. The tongs are then removed and the desired number of turns are accumulated on the block I8. The wire is then led around the pulleys 28, 32 and 33, threaded through the die l5a and wound on the drum [9. The threading operations initially are carried out at a slow speed of the motors but if desired, the automatic control mechanism associated with the block l8, may be used to correlate the speed of that block with the speed of operation of the succeeding block l9.

The wire leaves the block l9 over pulleys 34, 36 and 31 and is led through the finishing die "5a to the finishing block 20. As soon as sufiicient wire has been accumulated on the finishing block 28 to give sufi'icient frictional engagement between the block and the wire to permit the wire to be to the desired rate by means of the control knob 85, and by means of the automatic mechanisms heretofore described, the speeds of the blocks 19 and I8 are automatically correlated with the speed of the finishing block, the ultimate speeds of these blocks depending upon therelationship between the various diameters of the wire as it is drawn through the several dies.

In operation the friction connection between the blocks l8 and i9 and the respective gears 46 through the brake bands insures a proper and substantially uniform tension on the wire as it is being withdrawn from the blocks and the slip connections at this point and between the sprocket 64 and the rheostat shaft prevent any possibilit of damage, either to the wire or to the machine and the controls in the event that dies are employed of such character as to take the correct operating speeds outside the range of automatic adjustment. In such case the machine may be operated until the lack of accumulation of wire, or excess of accumulation of wire on one or more of the drums, makes it necessary to run the wire off the drums and re-thread the machine. In ordinary operation, however, the sizes of the dies are so correlated with the normal speeds of the blocks that the motor rheostats have ample capacity to make any required speed adjustments and to permit substantially continuous operation. In use, the automatic speed adjustment is made quickly and there is very littlehunting and only slight operation of the rheostats after the machine has been threaded and is operating normally. In long runs, the adjustments of the rheostats may be automatically changed in response to changes in elongation occasioned by wear of the dies. However, these are all taken care of automatically as the need for adjustment arises. Accordingly, the machine may be operated for long periods of time so long as a continuous supply of Wire is available to the first unit.

The automatic speed control of the machine increases the rate of production, and improves the efficiency of power utilization. The machine is also advantageous in that time is given between the successive drawing operations to permit the wire to cool and rest, which gives improved results, particularly with some types of alloys.

The foregoing description of a preferred form of my invention is given by way of example, it being evident that various changes and modifications in the preferred form described herein can be made by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and teachings of my invention. Therefore, it is to be understood that my patent is not limited to the preferred embodiment described herein or in any manner other than by the scope of the appended claims when given the range of equivalents to which my patent may be entitled.

I claim:

1. In a wire drawing machine, a die, a block for drawing wire through the die and adapted to carry an accumulation of wire thereon, variable speed means for driving the block, means for withdrawing the wire from the block in an axial direction, a guide mounted for rotation about an axis coaxial with the block for guiding the wire withdrawn therefrom, a, gear rotatable with said guide, and control means operatively and positively connected to said gear for promptly controlling the speed of said block in response to movements of said guide.

2. In a continuous wire drawing machine having a plurality of dies and a plurality of blocks for drawing wire through said dies, said blocks being adapted to carry a reserve or accumulation of wire thereon, an independent variable speed motor for driving at least one of said blocks, automatic means for controlling the speed of said motor, said automatic means comprising a pulley over which said wire is withdrawn as it is led from said block, said pulley being mounted on a gear rotatable about an axis substantially coaxial with the axis of said block, means urging said gear to rotate in direction of said block and thereby urging said pulley against said wire, the rotation of said pulley and said gear.being dependentupon the ratio of the speeds at which wire is being withdrawn from and drawn on to said block, a rheostat for controlling the speed of said motor, and means operatively connecting said rheostat and said gear.

' 3. In a continuous wire drawing machine having a plurality of dies and a plurality of blocks for drawing wire through said dies, an indipendent variable speed motor for driving at least one of said blocks, automatic means for controlling the speed, of said motor, said automatic means comprising a pulley over which said wire is withdrawn as it is led from said block to a succeeding block, said pulley being mounted on a support rotatable about an axis substantially coaxial with the axis of said block, friction means urging said support to rotate in the direction of said block and thereby urging said pulley against said wire, the rotation of said pulley and said support being dependent upon the ratio of the speeds at which wire is being withdrawn from and drawn on to said block, a rheostat for controlling the speed of said motor, and means whereby movements of said support are immediately transmitted to said rheostat operatively connecting said rheostat and said support, whereby said motor is controlled to drive said block at such a speed that the speeds at which wire is being withdrawn from and drawn on to said block will be substantially equal.

4. In a wire drawing machine, a block for drawing wire through a die, said block being adapted to carry a reserve or accumulation oi wire thereon, a variable speed motor for driving said block, automatic means for controlling the speed of said motor, said automatic means comprising a pulley over which said wire is withdrawn as it is led from said block, said pulley being mounted on a gear rotatable about an axis substantially coaxial with the axis of said block, friction means urging said gear to rotate in direction of said block and thereby urging said pulley against said wire, the rotation of said pulley and said gear being dependent upon the ratio of the speeds at which wire is being withdrawn from and drawn on to said block, a rheostat for controlling the speed of said motor, and means including a slip connection for operatively connecting said rheostat and said gear.

5. In a wire drawing machine, a block around which the wire is wrapped for drawing wire through a die, means for driving said block, a guide for wire withdrawn from said block, said guide being mounted on a support rotatable about the axis of rotation of said block, a bearing for said support carried by said block, friction means tending to rotate said support with said block comprising a flange on said block and a friction band in engagement therewith and secured to said support, and means controlled by movement of said support for adjusting the speed or said driving means to maintain a substantially constant number of turns of wire on said block under normal operating conditions.

6. In a wire drawing machine, a block for drawing wire through a die, an electric motor for driving said block, a rheostat for controlling the speed of said motor, a hub member rotatably mounted upon a bearing carried by said block and coaxial therewith, friction means tending to rotate said hub member with said block comprising a flange on said block and a friction band in engagement therewith and secured to said hub member, a gear detachably secured to said hub member, a guide pulley for wire withdrawn from said block mounted on said gear and arranged so that engagement of the wire against the pulley tends to prevent rotation of said hub and said gear, an operative connection between said gear and said rheostat whereby rotation of said gear will result in adjustment of the speed of the motor, and a slip connection and a stop in said operative connectionto prevent damage to said rheostat in the event of movement of said gear beyond the range of adjustment of said rheostat.

7. In a wire drawing machine, a block for drawing wire through a die, an electric motor for driving said block, a rheostat for controlling the speed of said motor, a hub member rotatably mounted upon a bearing carried by said block and coaxial therewith, friction means tending to rotate said hub member with said block comprising a flange on said block and a friction band in engagement therewith and secured to said hub member, a gear detachably secured to saidhub member, a guide pulley for wire withdrawn from said block mounted on said gear and arranged so that engagement of the wire against the pulley tends to prevent rotation of said hub and said gear, and an operative connection between said with and secured to said gear, a guide pulley fo wire withdrawn from said block mounted on said gear and arranged so that. engagement of the wire against the pulley tends to prevent rotation of said gear, and an operative connection between said gear and said rheostat whereby rotation of said gear will result in adjustment of the speed in an-axial direction and guiding the wire to said finishing block whereby the rate of withdrawal of wire from said other block depends upon the speed of operation of said finishing block and the reduction efiected by the die associated therewith, and control means associated with said other block for automatically adjusting the. speed thereof to maintain the accumulation or reserve of wire thereon substantially constant in normal operation of the machine, regardless gear and said rheostat whereby rotation of said gear will result in adjustment of the speed of the motor.

8. In a wire drawing machine, a block for drawing wire through a die, an electric motor for driving said block, a rhcostat for controlling the speed of said motor, a gear rotatably mounted upon a bearing carried by said block and coaxial therewith, friction means tending to rotate said gear with said block comprising a flange on said block and a, friction band in engagement thereof normal variations in the speed of said finishing block or normal changes in the reduction effected by the dies, said control means comprising a rheostat for controlling the speed of said motor, a supporting member rotatably-mounted upon a bearing carried by said other block and coaxial therewith, friction means tending to rotate said hub member with said block, a guide pulley for wire withdrawn from said block mounted on said supporting member and arranged so that engagement of the wire against the pulley tends to prevent rotation of said supporting member and an operative connection between said supporting member and said rlieostat whereby rotation of said supporting member in response to slight changes in accumulation of wire on said other block will result in adjustment of the speed of the motor.

EDWARD J. P. FISHER. 

